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Though it was recorded and released in 2005, there's an oddly 1980s quality to Edward Heppenstall's debut album, not in the sense of new wave revivalists like Interpol or Franz Ferdinand but in the sense of mainstream '80s pop/rockers along the lines of Corey Hart or Richard Marx. A booming-voiced singer whose emotional sensor seems permanently set on "urgent," Heppenstall blares his way through every song even when a little more restraint would seem appropriate, as on the Night Ranger-like power ballad "Don't Take Me Down." Musically, the album's familiar sheen of glossy keyboards, crunchy-catchy guitar riffs, and funk-oriented basslines is equally retro-friendly.